Man-woman Crews Get Missile Watch

December 15, 1988|By New York Times News Service.

WASHINGTON — After a yearlong trial, the Air Force has decided to make permanent a policy of assigning crews of one woman and one man on 24-hour duty in underground control rooms for intercontinental nuclear missiles.

Assigning mixed pairs in the missile stations is perhaps the boldest change in women`s duties in the military since large numbers began to enlist in 1973, after the draft ended. Many men and women have served together in large units, but not in pairs for round-the-clock tours.

Such assignments were begun experimentally last January when male and female officers were paired to control Minuteman missiles at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. After nearly a year, senior officers said, there were no reports of sexual misconduct among the mixed crews.

Because those assignments worked well, Air Force officers said, more women will be assigned to serve with men on missile duty. The first female-male team to control MX nuclear missiles, the newest and most powerful in the Air Force`s arsenal, are to began work in mid-January at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.

The Strategic Air Command, the branch of the Air Force responsible for offensive weapons, also plans to place women in Minuteman missile crews at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota in April and at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota in May.

Eventually, officers at SAC headquarters in Omaha said, women will make up about 20 percent of the 1,200 officers who operate 100 control centers for 1,000 missiles at seven bases. Forty-eight women currently are assigned to that duty. Laws and regulations exclude from combat women, who make up 12.5 percent of the Air Force and about 10.2 percent of all the military.

Three second lieutenants, Ann McCarthy, Angela Roberts and Heather Williams, are to report to Warren on Thursday and to begin their duties in mid-January. As crew members, they will assist in controlling 10 MX missiles, each with 10 warheads, in silos scattered over 3,000 square miles.

They will monitor the missiles to make sure they can respond to a coded order from the president to launch them. Crews are repeatedly drilled without notice, making teamwork essential.

The control capsules are built of thick steel and concrete 65 feet below ground. They are crammed with control panels. The few creature comforts include a cot and a toilet and washbowl, with only a curtain for privacy.

Crews are teamed for months at a time, going on duty about once every four days.

One of the female missile officers at Whiteman, 1st Lt. S. Reni Renner, said the move to mixed crews had benefited the women by allowing them to serve with an experienced commander before being promoted to command a missile crew. Col. Thomas Keunning Jr. the commanding officer at Whiteman, said there was no question about the abilities of the women to handle the missile duties. ``It`s not an issue here,`` he said.